When I first arrived here a couple of years ago, I was anti-housekeeper. By this I don't mean that I wanted to annihilate all housekeepers in Tanzania but rather that personally, I did not feel I needed one.
The reasoning behind my thinking was that I was freshly free from my office job ( I had resigned about 2 weeks prior to arriving in Dar),I didn't know a soul except for The Engineer and I was miserable, miserable, miserable! This was largely due to my gut-wrenching homesickness but the other reason was because I'm a diva (and proud of it!).
All Dar had to offer (two years ago anyway but not much has changed!) is unstable electrical power, head-splitting hot sunshine, the beach and un-tarred roads - hardly NY Fifth Avenue. The only shoes that are readily available here are leather thongs (albeit pretty ones) and weird platforms (which look like they're targeted at the hooker portion of the population!) But I digress....
I truly believed at that time that housework would keep me sane. I was mostly housebound with nothing but time on my hands to sink deeper and deeper into my homesickness so I didn't see housework as the drudgery it is!
Fortunately for me, Girlfriend (the person who became my best friend in Africa) and I hit it off soon after and the more people I met the less time I was inclined to spend with a broom and duster.
It was Girlfriend who finally made me employ domestic help ( I think she got tired of listening to me say that I couldn't accompany her somewhere because I hadn't mopped the floor yet that week!). Anyway, that was how I ended up with help at home.
Initially, I freaked out at the idea of someone 'lurking' about in my home. Anyone who knows me knows that I positively treasure my privacy and the idea of a housekeeper in the background did not appeal. However, much to my own surprise, I changed my mind fairly quickly. The dishes seemed to 'miraculously' get clean, the floor was swept and mopped and best of all - the clothes were ironed!
As time wore on, I found myself relying more and more on my housekeeper but just as I thought we'd established a good relationship, she began to hassle me for money.....(to be continued)
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